


Five Days

by allthatconfetti



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Christmas AU, F/M, M/M, college au sort of?, mentions of the other members, pining best friends au, side junhoon just because it's me and i want to
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 22:16:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9036563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allthatconfetti/pseuds/allthatconfetti
Summary: Five days throughout December that change everything between Soonyoung and Wonwooor, Christmas AU Soonwoo





	1. December 4

**Author's Note:**

> This was posted as a five part drabble at @soonwoonet for its Advent Calendar 2016! Merry Christmas to everyone :)
> 
> We all deserve a little schmoopy holiday Soonwoo. I hope this one isn't too terrible, although it does get very very very sappy. Just a warning. Sob.

There’s something about December.

Soonyoung hums a song about mistletoe as he opens storage boxes and takes out garlands for the store window. The streets are quiet as midnight nears, and there’s a bite in the air that almost tastes like cinnamon. The anticipation almost makes him shiver. Unfurling boughs and lifting ornaments from their glass cases, he marvels quietly over the intricate pictures on each one. He smiles to himself. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, indeed.

He’s startled out of his reverie by a tap-tap-tap at the window. A bespectacled boy in a beanie and a bomber jacket peers through the window, searching. Their eyes meet and the other boy’s eyes widen in delight. He waves, excited; Soonyoung smiles. He stands up to open the door.

“Sorry I’m so late. It’s so cold out there.” The other boy rushes in, shivering.

“No problem. I was just getting started.” Soonyoung hands him a box and the boy proceeds to open it up and unload its contents. Soonyoung watches him carefully place the different parts of the toy town on the floor and, endeared, smiles again.

The boy looks up, catches Soonyoung’s fond expression. “What?”

Soonyoung shrugs. “Nothing. Hey Wonwoo?”

“Yeah?”

Soonyoung ducks his head, busies himself with twirling more twinkle lights around the frame of the shop window. “Thanks for agreeing to help me out.”

Wonwoo laughs, a light tinkling of sound that always sounds a little like music in Soonyoung’s ears. “No problem. I like doing this kind of stuff. Helps you out too. I’m just sorry I couldn’t come earlier. I had a date.”

“Huh. Did you?” Something tightens in Soonyoung’s chest and it becomes oddly hard to swallow. “You didn’t. You didn’t mention it.” He ignores how much more effort it takes to keep the smile on his face.

“Hmmm, yeah,” Wonwoo hums. He unwraps a bridge and puts it down on the floor next to him, fingers tracing over the detailed ridges of the bowed middle. “Mingyu set it up. In fact,” Wonwoo looks up at him, amused smile on his face. “I have a string of blind dates this December. Apparently everyone thinks I shouldn’t be alone this holiday season.”

“Oh,” Soonyoung says. “Should I have looked for a blind date for you?”

Wonwoo barks out a laugh. “Dude, no. Don’t do that.”

“So you’re going on them?”

“The what?”

“The dates.” Honestly, Soonyoung had half a mind to brain him with the ornament in his hand. Did he really have to extract it from him detail by agonizing detail?

Wonwoo shrugs. “I guess. I mean, it’s not like I think anything serious will come out of them. It might be fun. Tonight was not one of those instances but maybe the next few ones will be better.”

“Next FEW ones?”

Wonwoo laughs.

Soonyoung huffs, just a little. It’s not like he minds Wonwoo going out on dates. Or finding someone to go out with on a more permanent basis. Wonwoo is his best friend; he wants him to be happy.

(If he’s worried about Wonwoo being happy for some reason that doesn’t involve him, well, he’ll keep it to himself for the time being.)

“So how was it?”

“How was what?”

“The date?”

Wonwoo shrugs, crumples up the packaging paper in his hand into a ball. “So-so. I don’t think I’ll be expecting a second date with him anytime soon.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. He was boring. He didn’t really talk much. I mean, I already don’t talk much. We probably wouldn’t figure out much between us. No harm done. It was just dinner, a movie, and a handshake. We didn’t even exchange numbers.”

“Ah,” Soonyoung says. He wishes he can say more.

Wonwoo looks up at him. “Hey, Soonyoung.”

“Yeah?”

Wonwoo smiles at him, that gentle little smile that always gets to Soonyoung. “If I meet someone that makes me happy, I promise you, you’ll be the first to know.”

It’s December and the air feels a little cooler, a little stingier. But he appreciates the sentiment. “Thanks, man.”


	2. December 9

Soonyoung wishes it weren’t too early for snow.

He huddles down into his jacket; the air is biting but it feels a little bit like all pretense and no follow-through. He watches as his exhale puffs into the air, almost crystallizing but not quite. The week before the first snowfall is always excruciating to him. Anticipation never sits well on his shoulders.

He turns his head at the sound of a door being slammed. He watches Wonwoo emerge from his driveway, deep voice calling out a goodbye at his mom. He tries to ignore how nice he looks in a warm-looking sweater, because you’re not supposed to be thinking such things about your best friend. No sir.

“Hey,” he says, as nonchalantly as he can manage, before turning to start walking.

Wonwoo gives him a big grin, nudges his shoulder. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Soonyoung replies, feeling a twinge of guilt. Since they live so close together, they try to grab the bus to campus together as often as their schedules allowed it. But since Wonwoo mentioned that he’d be going on a string of dates for Christmas, Soonyoung had been getting out of their morning walks with random excuses. Cancelled class, an early study session with some classmates… but this morning he and Wonwoo had the same Philosophy class so there wasn’t an excuse he could make.

It also happened to be the day after Wonwoo’s next date. Not that Soonyoung cared.

He really didn’t.

“So.”

“Hmm?” Wonwoo’s looking up at the sky, squinting a little. “Does it look like it’s going to snow soon?”

“Not really.”

Wonwoo shrugs. “Too bad. I could use some.”

Soonyoung ducks his head and smiles. “You’ll regret that when you’re shovelling snow off your driveway in a few weeks.”

Wonwoo snickers, hand coming up to cover his mouth. “Yeah, yeah. But I like snow.”

Soonyoung knows this about him. It startles, maybe scares him a little, just how much he knows.

“Were you going to say something?”

“Me?” He thinks about it, but isn’t really sure how to phrase the question: did you meet the love of your life last night? “Not really.”

“Oh, I went on that date last night.”

Soonyoung hates that he feigns surprise. “Oh yeah? How was it?”

Wonwoo laughs a little. “Better than the last one. She was kind of interesting.”

The grip that Soonyoung has around his backpack straps tightens. “Was she now?”

Wonwoo scratches his ear. “Yup. She was really cool. I think we took the same Lit class two sems ago.”

“Are you,” Soonyoung coughs a little. “Sorry.”

“No, go ahead.”

“Will you see her again?”

Wonwoo shrugs. “I told her about my series of blind dates. She laughed, thought it sounded hilarious. She’s pretty cool.”

“She does sound cool.”

“You’d like her, Soonyoung.”

“Well I’d have to, if you end up dating her.”

Wonwoo shrugs. “I don’t know. Like I said, she’s cool but… we’ll see what happens.”

“Yeah. You’ll see.”

“Anyway, did you do the reading for Jenkins?”

Soonyoung thinks he should be relieved that Wonwoo changed the subject, but the open-endedness of their conversation makes him fidgety. There are many things that Soonyoung hates but uncertainty is near the top of that list. He tells himself it’s because he hates change, and someone coming into the fabric that is Soonyoung-and-Wonwoo, Wonwoo-and-Soonyoung, that’s a big change.

These are the things he tells himself, anyway.


	3. December 14

“Will you quit moping?”

Soonyoung makes a face at Jihoon. Easy for him to say, with his hand neatly enclosed in Junhui’s.

Jihoon rolls his eyes but not without sympathy. “It’s almost Christmas, we’re around a shitload of sugar, and you’re like halfway done with gift shopping. Tell me what’s not great about that.”

Soonyoung thinks, _Wonwoo could be here, making fun of the stupid faces Junhui keeps making at Jihoon with him, trying out the free cookie samples they’re giving out at this Christmas fair, or even just standing next to him snorting at the overpriced stuffed toys._

“I guess,” Soonyoung says, instead. “You’re right. Thanks for coming with me. Both of you.”

“No problem,” Junhui says breezily. He’s distracted by the pretty bakery window displays. “I needed to do my Christmas shopping anyway.”

Jihoon snorts. “I started on our Christmas shopping weeks ago and you didn’t even bother asking to come with me.”

“That’s because you do your shopping for the boring relatives gifts first,” Junhui teases, smiling brightly at the other. “I’m here for the fun gifts.” They look at each other, the faint irritation in Jihoon’s eyes giving way to amusement. Soonyoung can’t help but feel terribly left out and not for the first time, he wishes Wonwoo were there to throw a piece of brownie at the pair.

He shoves his hands into his pockets, fingers wrapping around the balled up paper that is his Christmas list in one of them. They’d just come from the car where they stashed the stuff Soonyoung bought for his family: a book for his sister, a scarf for his dad, an adorable pair of earmuffs for his mom. He’d gotten an assortment of random things for his friends: headphones for Jihoon, journals for Junhui, some books on musicals for Seungkwan and Seokmin. He still hasn’t gotten a gift for Wonwoo. The last few years he’d always gotten him something he liked - drama soundtracks, writing journals, even a set of picks that one year he fancied himself a born guitar player (that idea died down after a few months). This time, though, he didn’t know what to get him.

He toys with the idea of getting him socks when he comes across a stall.

Curious, he runs a finger over the glass surface. It’s a small thing, and seems a little trite, if not impractical. “Tokyo,” he reads silently. Inside the globe, small pink flecks representing cherry blossoms float around instead of snow. With him being a weeb and Wonwoo with a backpacker’s yen to travel, they’d often talked about how Japan was a place they could both go to together. Seeing it, he’s reminded of a thousand things he and Wonwoo said they’d do together and he suddenly feels far too sentimental for comfort.

“Um,” Jihoon interrupts his train of thought. “So. I just thought you should know. We bumped into someone.”

“Huh?” Soonyoung’s mind is still on his internal dilemma of gifting his best friend something so ridiculous as a snow globe.

“You went Christmas shopping without me?!” A familiar face peers over Jihoon’s shoulder, heart clutched in mock indignation. Soonyoung smiles automatically until he realizes what his presence means.

“What are you doing here?”

Wonwoo’s cheeks are pink from exposure to the chilly evening air. “Saw you guys from where Minhyuk and I were having coffee after dinner.”

“Minhyuk?” Soonyoung asks, realizing as soon as the words leave his mouth that he doesn’t want to know the answer.

Wonwoo’s smile shies and it makes Soonyoung feel a little like dying. “Yeah, Minhyuk. He’s my date tonight.”

“Oh.”

From the corner of his eye, Soonyoung sees Jihoon and Junhui watching their back-and-forth like a tennis match.

“Yeah,” Wonwoo says softly. He shuffles a little, feet kicking at the snowless ground. “I told him I wouldn’t be long; I just needed to say hi to you numbskulls.” He laughs a little. “Funny we ran into you here.”

Soonyoung laughs back, hoping it doesn’t sound as hollow as he feels. “Yeah. Funny.”

Wonwoo looks at them all, sighs. “I better go. Don’t want to seem rude and all.”

“Yeah, right, no totally,” Soonyoung nods. “Talk to you tomorrow.”

“Cool,” Wonwoo says. His foot taps Soonyoung’s ankle affectionately. “See you.” He waves a hand at Jihoon and Junhui, before walking back towards the West entrance of the fair.

“Don’t,” Jihoon tells Junhui, who looks like he’s about to step towards where Wonwoo went.

“Tell me you’re not curious about seeing who Wonwoo’s on a date with.”

Jihoon glares at him, before nodding at Soonyoung, who’s still holding onto the snow globe behind his back.

“You okay?”

Soonyoung coughs. “Fine. I’m fine.” He puts the snow globe back down. “I need to go. Find socks.”


	4. December 19

He did not buy socks.

He stares dumbly down at the snow globe in his hand, wondering what on earth possessed him to buy it. It definitely had something to do with Junhui’s gentle urging and Jihoon’s annoyed reminder that they had to buy something before the fair closed for the night. It’s been five days since then, and he’s still debating about whether or not to give it or just wuss out and get him a new game for his 3DS. Safe. Casual. The typical best friend gift. Nothing says ‘I absolutely do not think of you beyond my best buddy pal’ than the new Fire Emblem.

But here he is, after closing time once again, staring at the snow globe he’d kept under the counter at the store because god forbid he’d fixate and stare at it even more at home. He has wrapping paper and an unobtrusive gift tag in front of him, which means decision time.

He takes a deep breath. And wraps.

It takes him less than ten minutes. He’s really good at wrapping--even his boss says so. He likes working in the quiet of the store after closing. Sometimes he brews a cup of coffee and does his homework in the back instead of heading home right after, unless he and Wonwoo had plans.

He picks up a pen, hovers over the tag.

“To Wonwoo,” he says out loud while writing, disrupting the silence of the store. “From, Soonyoung.” There. Simple. Nonchalant. Absolutely nothing there to indicate him liking his best friend. Not at all.

He sighs. It’s getting harder to lie to himself as the days pass.

He shoves the gift back under the counter and picks up his bag, gets ready to head home. He opens the door.

“Whoa!”

He yells out loud into the face of the person at the door.

“GOD. Wonwoo, what the hell are you doing here?”

“You don’t look at your phone,” Wonwoo accuses him lightly. “I’ve been calling you for the past ten minutes.”

Soonyoung squirms guiltily, thinking about the wrapped gift in the store. “I was busy.” He nudges Wonwoo to move so that he can lock the door. It is then and only then that he notices.

“Holy shit, it’s snowing!” Soonyoung looks up, marveling at the first snowfall of the season.

“Yup,” Wonwoo tells him, smiling. He’s wearing a padded jacket and looking warm and snug with a beanie pulled over his head. “I was on my way home and it started snowing so. I found myself walking over here, thinking you would be here.”

He laughs a little. “I wanted to be the one to tell you it was snowing.” He pushes his glasses up his nose again, and Soonyoung thinks he wants nothing more than to hold Wonwoo’s face in his hands right now.

He shoves his hands into his pockets so that he doesn’t do anything he regrets. “Thanks,” he says softly. “I’m glad.”

Wonwoo smiles, shrugs, tilts his head to gesture. “Want to walk home together?” Soonyoung shrugs, and smiles back.

The walk home is filled with warmth despite the weather, a lot of which has been missing the past month since Wonwoo told him about the blind dates. It makes Soonyoung realize that he’s been awfully selfish about Wonwoo and his happiness, and how much he’s missed him, just being around him. They talk about classes and friends and what their families have planned for Christmas Eve dinner, and when they’re not talking, they walk in silence companionably. Their knuckles brush against each other’s as they walk together, and it makes Soonyoung hyper-aware of Wonwoo’s proximity. He smells faintly of the rain, which is a preposterous thing to smell like in the snow. But he does. It’s nice.

They get to Wonwoo’s house first, and normally they just walk together until the mailbox, before Wonwoo turns to head up his driveway and Soonyoung continues to walk down the road a few blocks to his house. He’s about to wave goodbye when Wonwoo clasps his wrist and tugs at him to follow him up the driveway that’s already becoming powdery white.

“What are you doing?” Soonyoung asks, half-giggling. Wonwoo has the funniest expression on his face and it’s making Soonyoung smile.

They stop at his door. The windows are dark, and there’s no light except for the one by the door. It casts yellow shadows over both their faces, and Wonwoo’s face is shiny. He rummages in his backpack for a bit, before he grabs something and shoves it at Soonyoung’s chest.

“Don’t open it ‘til Christmas,” Wonwoo warns him, the goofiest smile on his face.

“You shouldn’t have,” Soonyoung teases him back. He turns the gate. “Your gift is at the shop, though. I left it there. I didn’t think we’d be exchanging presents right now.”

Wonwoo shrugs. “Don’t worry about it, it’s just, I felt that it was the right time to give yours.”

Soonyoung warms, despite the cold. “Thanks.”

Wonwoo nods, shyly almost. “Anytime.”

They stand there, for awhile, smiling at each other, before Soonyoung realizes that it’s getting late.

“I better go,” he tells Wonwoo. Wonwoo nods, but he’s distracted suddenly.

“Oh my God,” Wonwoo blurts out. He buries his face in his open palms. “I can’t believe Bohyuk.”

“Hmm?” Soonyoung murmurs. He’s still clutching Wonwoo’s gift in his arms.

Wonwoo points up and lo and behold, there is a sprig of mistletoe hovering above them conspicuously.

“Oh,” Soonyoung says.

“Yeah,” Wonwoo snickers. “I can’t believe this, he probably thinks he can g--”

Soonyoung steps forward and stops thinking clearly, obviously, because all of a sudden his hands are on Wonwoo’s face, chilly pudgy fingers cupping his jaw gently to hold him in place as a faint buzzing starts sounding in his ear. He closes his eyes, tiptoes and presses his lips to the corner of Wonwoo’s. He’s so warm, even when his lips are chapped against his, but he feels his toes curl from the overwhelming sensation of Wonwoo--his skin smells of coffee from his earlier cup, and the rims of his glasses jut against Soonyoung’s cheeks. It’s that feeling that brings him back down to reality.

He’s kissing Wonwoo. Shit. Shit shit shit.

He lets go of Wonwoo’s face and pulls back abruptly, feeling like someone poured a bucket of ice down his back. Wonwoo’s eyes are still closed, but they flutter open slowly as he stares dumbly at Soonyoung. Flecks of snow land on his face, and some even perch on his eyelashes.

He’s ruined everything.

“Sorry, shit, Wonwoo, I’m sorry,” Soonyoung babbles as he steps backward down the driveway, nearly tripping in his hurry. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do, I have to go. I’m sorry.”

Absolutely mortified, he strides quickly back into the night, wishing desperately for the snow-laden earth to swallow him whole.


	5. December 24

Over the next few days, Soonyoung does everything possible to distract himself from the feeling of wanting to find the nearest cliff to throw himself off of: he helps his mom wrap presents for his relatives, he drives his little cousins around and they spend a nice afternoon throwing snowballs at each other, he meets up with friends and they go to karaoke, where he deliberately avoids choosing ballads that remind him of Wonwoo.

Last night, he dropped by Jihoon’s and Junhui’s apartment to give them their presents. Jihoon deadpanned wondering what his gift could be, even shaking it a little, but raised an eyebrow at the additional package. “What’s this?”

Soonyoung shrugs nonchalantly.

“You know I’m just going to tell you to get over yourself, right?”

“Jihoon, you owe me.”

“For what?!”

“I… I totally introduced you to Junhui!”

“You’re really calling in a favor three years after the fact?”

Soonyoung grew quiet, and Jihoon sighed. “Will you talk about it soon?”

“Probably never,” Soonyoung quipped, trying to smile but failing miserably.

Jihoon sighed again, then nodded. “Alright, fine. But this time you owe me.”

He’s sitting at the shop window after closing while waiting for the snow to settle for a bit before heading home, staring down at the little Santa village figurines he and Wonwoo had set up early this month. He asked his manager if he could do some work today, as Christmas had seriously emptied his bank account. He’s studiously ignoring his phone and thinking instead of all the nice things waiting for him when he gets home: roasted ham, kimchi, piles of steaming hot rice and puddings of different colors.

(Wonwoo sent him a significant number of texts and Kakaotalk messages, and called him numerous times since what happened -- but he hasn’t looked.)

(He knows it’s dumb -- Wonwoo probably wanted to just check if he was okay. If they were okay. But Soonyoung doesn’t want to confront the realities of a.) what he had done, and b.) Wonwoo looking at him with pity. He thinks he deserves a nice Christmas ignoring how he’s ruined his friendship with his best friend for the time being. He’ll deal with everything come the New Year.)

(There’s a small part of him that believes that the holidays have something to do with his heightened emotions for his best friend, so after the holidays, there’s a high possibility that everything goes back to normal.) (There’s also a small part of him that continues to lie to himself.)

By closing time, he’s decided that the little figurine girl who was skating with the little figurine guy looked a little too smug for his liking. He’s reaching out, toying with the idea of separating them--serves them right to be honest--when an insistent tapping at the door interrupts his reverie.

It’s Wonwoo.

Soonyoung’s eyes widen but he can’t hide now -- it’s too late. Wonwoo spots him, and the indignation in his eyes is a true sight to behold. To hide under the window display would be childish, and futile.

Soonyoung sighs. He supposes he can’t have nice things this Christmas.

His stomach flutters a bit while he’s unlocking the door. It’s a bit of deja vu, from early this month. Wonwoo, wearing a thick jacket and a beanie, glasses perched on his nose, except instead of a fond smile, he has a deeply-etched frown on his face.

“What the hell, Soonyoung?”

“Um,” Soonyoung says in reply. “Merry Christmas?”

Wonwoo lifts up a partially unwrapped present. “You asked Jihoon to give me my gift?”

Soonyoung shrugs. “It seemed convenient when I thought of it.” He’s avoiding looking Wonwoo in the eye, backing up and fixing a random shelf as Wonwoo steps into the store. He knows Wonwoo’s not going to leave it alone, so he just has to control his responses and expressions until he gets tired and goes home.

Wonwoo follows him around the aisles, careful not to nudge any of the items. “You went all the way to Jihoon’s just to avoid giving me a Christmas present you knew I already had.”

Shit. “I didn’t think you already had Conquest. Wasn’t it Birthright?”

“Don’t act dumb with me, son, you know I had both. I complained about them to you on a daily basis all of last year.”

“Oh,” Soonyoung says nonchalantly. “I don’t remember everything Wonwoo.”

“Somehow I doubt that. Jihoon told me he doesn’t think this was what you got me though.”

Fuck Jihoon. “No, that’s definitely what I got you.”

He finds himself cornered against his counter, and when he turns around, Wonwoo’s right there, standing much too close to him. Soonyoung swallows. His cheeks are pink from exposure to the cold and from chasing Soonyoung around the home furnishings store that he part-times at. He has his hands shoved in his pockets, and an unreadable expression on his face, but he’s looking down into Soonyoung’s face and Soonyoung feels like he has to tread carefully lest he loses one of the best things in his life.

“Soonyoung, will you stop?” Wonwoo reaches out and touches both his shoulders, keeps him in place. It makes Soonyoung want to crumble; he’s so tired of trying not to feel this way. But stop he does, crossing his arms and staring at a spot on the floor.

“Do you really not want to talk about it?”

“Not really, no.”

“Soonyoung…”

“It was a spur of the moment thing, I’m sorry. I really am. You’re my best friend. I don’t want us to be awkward, I don’t want to lose you,” Soonyoung blurts out. There’s a stinging at the corners of his eye and his nose is tightening, and he hates it. He feels like a child who’s being told he can’t play outside anymore when all he wants to do is run.

“Soonyoung, you could never lose me,” Wonwoo says, in his deep kind voice, and it takes everything in Soonyoung not to break. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would get this far.”

“Huh?” Tears are threatening to spill over; his cheeks are on red alert.

Wonwoo looks a little watery himself. “Soonyoung, do you have my present? Or is it at your house?”

Soonyoung scrunches his nose. “It’s, uh, it’s still in my bag. Over there.”

Wonwoo marches over to his bag, rummages around and takes out the package. Soonyoung’s sunken onto the floor, watching him and trying to wipe at his eyes unobtrusively. Wonwoo sinks down onto the floor next to him, removing his jacket, shoving the package into his hands.

“Open it,” Wonwoo says. He wraps his arms around his thin legs, his feet bouncing rhythmlessly against the wooden floors. Soonyoung looks at him before carefully unwrapping his gift.

It’s a weird kind of wooden carving that reads… “Happiness?” Soonyoung says out loud.

Wonwoo taps his knees until they’re facing each other, huddled behind the shop counter. The shop lights are dimmed, but the excessive amount of Christmas lights makes everything, including Wonwoo, look soft and muted, the twinkling lights casting a warm glow onto his face. He looks otherworldly in this light, Soonyoung thinks. Impossibly soft.

Wonwoo covers his face with his hands, a quirk of his that is so quintessentially him it warms Soonyoung’s heart. “I didn’t think I’d be doing this here, at your shop, behind this counter. But there’s a funny kind of symmetry since I first told you about my dates right here.”

“Are you saying you went on those dates without actually wanting to?”

Wonwoo shrugs. “I agreed to them because they sounded fun and because I didn’t really think I would like anyone I’d meet from those, not when I really liked someone else already. Have liked, for a long time now.”

Soonyoung suddenly feels like he can’t breathe. The wrapping paper in his fists tremble as he does. He opens his mouth to ask but only a weird strangled noise comes out.

“I told you before,” Wonwoo says with a tiny quiet smile. “That if I ever found someone that makes me happy, you would be the first person I told. What I do know, what I have known for a long time, is that you’re the only person who does. Make me happy.” 

Wonwoo hides his face in his sweater paws and Soonyoung wants to cry for a different reason entirely, so naturally the first thing he does is shove at Wonwoo. Wonwoo laughs at the action, falling backwards on his ass, hands steadying Soonyoung who is still trying to shove at him.

“You idiot.”

“Yeah, I know. Two idiots, the both of us.” Wonwoo smiles fondly up at him, and Soonyoung realized he’s pushed Wonwoo against the cupboards behind the counter, with him half sitting on his lap. Soonyoung scrambles off him, red dusting his cheeks, to pluck Wonwoo’s gift from under the counter.

“Here, open it.”

“What’s this?” Wonwoo sits in an upright position, fingers poking at the box.

“That’s, that’s your real present.”

Wonwoo smirks. “I knew it wasn’t Conquest.”

“You have me all figured out, Jeon, totally,” Soonyoung deadpans.

Wonwoo tears diligently at the gift wrapper, until he has the box open in his hands. Soonyoung is nervous; he traces the letters of the Happiness wood carving to distract himself.

“Tokyo, cherry blossoms,” Wonwoo says softly. “Hey, we’ve always wanted to go there.”

“I know,” Soonyoung says, smiling to himself. He feels before he sees Wonwoo poking at his hands, which are still holding onto the wood carving.

Wonwoo smiles brightly at him. “Thank you.”

Soonyoung shrugs; he’s so shy all of a sudden.

“Soonyoung,” Wonwoo says. He looks nervous, and all of a sudden he can’t look Soonyoung in the eye. “I realize that I don’t know exactly how you feel, and I don’t know how you’re taking everything that I’m saying, but I just, I just wanted to be honest with you, because it’s Christmas and all. And if the kiss was just a kiss that meant nothing, then that’s fine, and if you don’t feel the same, that’s okay too, we can just--”

Wonwoo’s sitting there, babbling in various run-on sentences, and Soonyoung feels like he’s suffered enough. He scrambles back into Wonwoo’s arms, a foreign but not unpleasant feeling. One he could maybe get used to. He looks into Wonwoo’s face up close and it’s so familiar to him; from the crease he gets on his nose when he smiles so big to the indentations on the bridge of his nose that he gets from his glasses.

“Hey,” Soonyoung says, before pressing his mouth to Wonwoo’s. It’s so different from the first time; they’re not out in the cold, but in the warmth of the store, Soonyoung has his bare hands on Wonwoo’s neck to pull him closer, and Wonwoo is kissing him back this time. It’s so different but also the same; Soonyoung’s insides feel like fireworks, and he can’t help but smile as Wonwoo sighs and wraps two arms around him.

Things will definitely change between them but maybe it’ll be worth it.

Soonyoung pulls away slightly, leaning his forehead against Wonwoo’s. “No mistletoe this time.”

Wonwoo reaches up a hand to Soonyoung’s cheek, smiles. “No more mistletoe needed.”

"Merry Christmas, Wonwoo."

"Merry Christmas, Soonyoung."


End file.
